School Meals in Ireland and Abroad

eimearmartin13
Sep 25
6 min read

Governments from around the globe have tried to tackle the issue of undernutrition in children with a range of programs. One of these includes providing at least one healthy meal in schools. The positive benefits of these initiatives are abundant if the programs are run effectively. This includes reduced macronutrient deficiencies, improved growth, improved cognitive ability, and improved school performance and attendance. These programs can be life-changing for children, especially those who come from food-insecure backgrounds, where a school meal might be the only substantial meal a child has in a day.

Ted Talk focusing on the impact of school meals. Worth a watch to gain the full picture!

School meal data in Ireland

Ireland has seen a substantial increase of children receiving hot school meals in Ireland to 408,060 children. This is largely due to the rollout of hot school meals in primary schools compared to DEIS-only schools in 2022-23 (1).

Number of children receiving school meals in Ireland by year

Policy developments for hot school meals in Ireland by year

Interestingly and for the purpose of perspective, below is an image comparing the percentage of children receiving school meals in Ireland compared to other high income countries (using 2023 data).(2)

Ireland's percentage of hot school meals compared to other high income countries.

Funding

At the end of the 2022/23 school year, almost two-thirds (64%) of schools received surplus funding. This increased to 79% of schools recording a funding surplus as of 2023/24.

Greater oversight needed to minimise excess funding to allow reallocation of funds.

Looking at funding rates per lunch in other developed countries, the Hot School Meal funding rate (€3.20) is the 6th highest funding rate out of the 11 countries for which data is available. It is important to note that the funding rate will depend on factors such as the food content and the level of subsidy provided.

A study of school meal programmes around the world found that students’ families contribute to the cost of school meals in 56% of programmes (3)

As the scheme has expanded to cover a broader cohort of schools, including schools that are not in areas of socio-economic disadvantage such as DEIS schools, international evidence shows that co-payment by parents is a possible approach. Adopting a system whereby meals are universally provided, but not universally subsidised would give the flexibility to bring in a subsidised approach depending on family income.

Quality of school meals (4)

Nutrition standards for school meals in Ireland

Suppliers

Attitudes of the school food program varied by length of time involved and location of the school. This was important in reference to the ease and access to quality suppliers in that area

“In terms of location, principals in Connacht showed a marked, negative difference in attitudes to many aspects of the programme, and consequentially, a negative difference in attitudes to the impacts of the programme on students, compared to principals in other provinces. It is likely that this is due to the higher proportion of principals in Connacht working in rural schools, where access to quality suppliers is less common. In contrast, schools in Leinster reported very favourable attitudes” (5)

The geography of a school should not determine the quality of food that a child receives.

Food system transformation

Ensuring access to healthy diets for everyone;
Supporting robust livelihoods across the food system;
Preserving intact lands while restoring degraded areas;
Promoting environmentally sustainable food production; and
Building resilient food systems that ensure food and nutrition security both in the immediate and long term. (6)

The main goal of the Irish school meal program is to ensure that children have access to nutritious meals as per the European Union reports however, there is an opportunity to aid in the transformation of our food system and make a greater impact (7)

Opportunities in the Irish System

Creating a more sustainable system by:

Understanding the packaging used
Foods used are seasonal as promote current Irish produce
How is food waste dealt with?
Understanding the agricultural processes that go into what students are eating - farm to fork initiative
School gardens

What does best practice look like?

Japan (8)

1954: The School Lunch Act serving traditional Japanese cuisine

2005: The government enacted a law ensuring ‘Shokuiku’, food and nutrition education in all schools.

2007: The government promotes the hiring of nutrition and dietitian teachers

Objectives of the School Lunch Act include:

Maintaining and promoting good health through proper nutrition intake
Acquiring accurate knowledge on daily meals, developing an ability to judge and choose a healthy diet, developing good eating habits
Enriching school life, developing good-fellowship and cooperative spirit.
Understanding that a good diet comes from the blessings of nature, and encouraging them to have a spirit of respect for life and nature, and an attitude contributing to the environmental preservation
Understanding that daily meals are supported by many people of various activities involved in food production, and encouraging them to take an attitude of respect for hard work
Encouraging them to deeply understand the traditional food culture of our country as well as local foods.
Guiding them to understand food production, distribution, and consumption

Suppliers

The section and procurement of school lunches is implemented by the school.

Interestingly (see document attached) in different regions they have different methods of supplying schools with meals:

Some use one supplier who cooks on sight
Another region has two lunch centres which prepare and transport the food to the schools - this could be better in smaller communities in Ireland.

Finland (9)

A school meal is considered to be part of the national core curriculum so students get a free meal, balanced nutrition and knowledge and education of food preparation skills.

Steps taken to provide healthy meals:

Meal planning
Ensuring kitchen equipment is adequate
The choice of food production method depends on factors like cost, how efficient it is for staff, available kitchen space, and how much hot or cold storage is available. Food can be made in one central kitchen or in individual schools. For example, meals might be fully prepared at a school, or made partly or entirely in a central kitchen and then delivered to the school.

The national alignments in Finland aim for and promote public procurement that is high in quality, innovative, and ecologically, socially, and financially sustainable.

Financing:

Finland’s municipalities are independent as they can collect local taxes but with the tax funds they have to provide services including education and school meals.
Municipalities make their own budgets for the school meals
The school meal system is monitored on a local and national level

Brazil (10)

Decentralisation of funds to states and municipalities which are responsible for food preparation and procurement.
Supports local family farming.
Nutrition and food education built into the curriculum. The food that goes into the making of the meals are showcased for the children to understand
They aim to provide 100% organic food by 2030
School gardens are used in many schools - parents are employed by the school to take classes to teach children about growing their own food.

All meal ingredients are displayed so children understand what they are eating.

Children serving themselves to help understand portion control and reduce waste.

Key Takeaways from an Irish context

School meals program is viewed in a positive way among many schools in Ireland. In saying that, there is still a large gap between the number of enrolled students in the Irish education system and the number of these students who receive school meals. Below are issues I encountered during my research and proposed solutions.

School meals program to be universally available.

a) Problem: Funding issues

b) Possible solution: A mixture of government funding and means testing for parent contributions will make this more feasible.

Clear nutrition guidelines have been implemented by Health Ireland these are consistent with current nutrition advice.

a) Problems: A lack of approved meal supplies and allowing schools to tender their own contracts makes adhering to these guidelines difficult.

b) Possible solution: The department of education could formulate a list of approved suppliers or give the contract to one organisation where more oversight of provided food can be made. (see Japan example)

c) Possible solution: Greater oversight of food preparation will also bring down the costs of meals as food can be prepared in bulk. (see Japan example)

School facilities are insufficient

a) Problems: Schools do not have sufficient facilities for cooking, reheating and storing food.

b) Possible solutions: Building upgrades or food to be prepared offsite and brought into schools.

School meals program should be built into the school curriculum.

a) Possible benefits: A greater overall understanding of nutrition and food systems in teach Irish students about nutrition and wellbeing, breaking the cycle of obesity and undernutrition that comes from a lack of education.

Create a more sustainable food system in Ireland

a) Problems: Greater planning and thought needed from policy makers

b) Possible solution: A whole-country program is an opportunity to create a more sustainable system in Ireland including, greater engagement with the agriculture sector, more environmentally friendly packaging, teaching children about food waste and farming practises (keeping a garden and composting).

References: